


Once Bitten

by ginchy



Series: Count Patrickula [3]
Category: Call the Midwife
Genre: F/M, Family, Gen, I can’t leave the vampire thing alone, cuteness, shameless fluff, silliness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-29
Updated: 2019-10-29
Packaged: 2021-01-08 06:13:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21231116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ginchy/pseuds/ginchy
Summary: Angela and May are an adorable handful, concerned about vampires....





	Once Bitten

The evening was dark and cool as Patrick helped Shelagh from the car. He closed the door and pressed in close. Giggling and somewhat breathless, Shelagh smiled up at her husband. “Do you think the children are sleeping?” 

Raising his brows, Patrick looked toward the house. “At least one is still awake,” he said, nodding toward the flickering light of the television screen through the window. “But the night is still young…” he brought Shelagh’s hand to his lips, gently brushing his lips against the back of it.

Shelagh hummed, leaning in to kiss her husband’s chin. “Oh, perhaps that will give me time to…” she fiddled with his tie and looked coyly up into his eyes. “Well, perhaps to change out of this dress and into something a little more  _ appropriate _ for a late evening…”

Patrick’s voice caught. “How appropriate?” 

“Oh, Patrick,” Shelagh cooed. “You’ll just have to wait and see!”

Eyes glittering, he took her hand and began to haul her toward the door. Shelagh giggled in his wake, trying to shush herself as he fumbled for the keys. “I don’t want to wake the chil--”

Shrieks of terror erupted from behind the door. Shelagh’s eyes widened. “Patrick!”

“What--girls?” He jammed the key in the lock and opened the door to find Angela and May hugging one another and sobbing, as Timothy stood over them, trying to console them. 

“Mum, Dad!” Timothy’s face was white. “I swear that I didn’t know they were watching!”

“Watching what?” Patrick scooped up May as she came running, and Angela attached herself to Shelagh. “What’s all this, my darling?” he asked, rubbing his daughter’s hair. 

“Timothy, what’s happened?” Shelagh looked to Angela, holding her close. “Is everyone alright?”

“It was a vampire, Daddy!” May cried, burying her face in his neck. “It was on the telly and there was…. Blood…”

Angela shrieked again at the word blood, burrowing ever closer into her mother. “Timmy was watching vampires and monsters,” she sobbed. “And the pretty lady had blood on her mouth…”

“I thought they were asleep! It was  _ Horror of Dracula _ , Dad. Remember that one?”

Patrick took a deep breath before closing his eyes and letting it out. “We heard your screams and thought…” he paused. “Never mind. Tim, you weren’t to know they were sneaking out of bed.”

Shelagh rocked Angela and nodded. “You both know well enough to stay in your beds after lights-out! Timothy was watching a movie for teenagers and grown-ups. It was nothing more than play-pretend!”

“There was blood and biting!” May hugged her father’s neck tighter. “We’re not supposed to bite!”

“I’m sorry, Mum--”

“It’s not your fault, Timothy. Go on to bed. We’ll take care of the girls. Thank you for watching them so that we could take dinner out.” She paused. “I don’t hear Teddy but check on him as you pass the nursery, please.”

Not missing the opportunity, Timothy bolted up the steps. 

Each taking a sobbing daughter into the sitting room, Patrick and Shelagh sat on the settee, cuddling their girls close. “I know what you saw was very scary, but it wasn’t at all real!” Shelagh hugged Angela and leaned toward May to press a kiss into her dark hair. “Sometimes people make up fantastic stories that are not appropriate for wee eyes.”

“There aren’t any vampires?” May looked up at Patrick, wet eyes blinking sleepily. 

“No, my love,” he said, kissing her upturned nose. “Vampires are very much something that someone made up!”

Shelagh looked between the girls, smiling. “Now do you want to tell us why you were out of bed?”

“Angela heard a noise,” May whispered.

“It was the vampire!”

Patrick looked at Shelagh over their daughters’ heads. It was going to be a long night.

\--

An hour later, finally tucked in, the little girls were asleep together in one bed. At the doorway, Shelagh sighed, pulling it mostly closed. Patrick was leaning against the wall, and laughed gently. “So much for our late evening!”

“Oh, Patrick,” she whispered. “Vampires were not what I expected for this evening, either.”

“Hmmm…” he said, leaning in. “I seem to remember you once enjoyed having this ‘vampire’ bite your neck…”

“The dark circles under your eyes do make you look quite vampiric,” Shelagh teased. “But not tonight, darling.”

Playfully grumbling, Patrick followed her down the hall.

Inside the bedroom, Angela’s eyes popped open.

\--

The next morning Shelagh moved about the kitchen, filling Patrick’s coffee mug and making toast. At the table, Timothy looked through the Sunday paper, moving his chair back from Teddy’s highchair as the baby grabbed at the pages. Angela and May sat quietly.

“Good morning, my ladies,” Patrick said, winking at them. When they didn’t giggle, he raised his brows. “No ‘good mornings’ for Daddy?”

“Good morning, Daddy,” the girls whispered.

“Oh, I think they must still be a mite sleepy!” Shelagh said, delivering their toast with a kiss to the top of each head. “They’ll perk up once we go to church!”

“Are you coming to church, Dad?” Timothy handed over the front page.

“Not today, son. I have some reports to write up…” He squinted as sunlight beamed through the window. “Shelagh, would you close the curtains? That light…”

May and Angela looked at one another.

“Of course, dearest,” she said, pulling it closed. “I’m thinking to make a garlic chicken recipe that Mrs. Buckle recommended for our lunch.”

Patrick hummed in approval. “Though perhaps not too much garlic--”

“Daddy,” May’s voice wobbled. “Is garlic bad for you?”

“Bad? What do you mean, May?”

“Did the sunlight hurt?” Angela scooted her chair backward as if ready to leap up.

“What are you girls…” Patrick looked at Shelagh.

May sniffled. “Angela said you bit Mummy’s neck, Daddy!”

Timothy groaned. “Forget Dracula,  _ this _ is the real horror.”

“Angela--” Shelagh’s cheeks were red. “Did you hear Daddy and I talking in the hall last night?”

Angela nodded. “And the movie said that vampires don’t like garlic or daylight or Jesus’s cross!”

Patrick closed his eyes. His face looked thunderous but also as if he might laugh at any moment. “Girls. Daddy is Daddy! Not a vampire. There are no such creatures as vampires, ghosts, ghouls, banshees…”

“Banshee!” Teddy repeated.

“Ghosts and ghouls, Daddy?” May’s eyes were wide.

“Did you really bite Mummy’s neck?” Angela was horrified.

“Excuse me,” Timothy said, stalking toward the stairs. “I need to go far away and forget this conversation completely.”

\--

Later that evening Patrick came into the bedroom, closing the door behind him. He sighed, and laid in the bed, staring up at the ceiling. “I spent thirty minutes inspecting their room for ghosts, goblins, vampires, and all sorts.” He turned toward Shelagh. “And let them look at my teeth once more.” He paused a beat. “Still no fangs.”

Shelagh giggled quietly. “I cannot believe they heard! We’ll need to be far more careful in what we say in these halls!”

Laughing, Patrick turned toward his wife, pulling back the bedcovers. “What’s all this?” he said, noting the silky black gown she wore. He ran a hand over her stomach. “Very appropriate….”

“All this talk of neck biting,” she breathed, sitting up and moving onto his lap. “I couldn’t resist.” 

“Our children think I’m a vampire,” he said, running his hands over her back. 

Unbuttoning his collar she ran a finger over his throat. “Your secret is safe with me,” she mumurmed, mischief in her eyes and dimples deep in her cheeks.

“Hm…” he ran his hands over her bottom as she began to kiss his neck. He growled at the slight nip she gave him. “My love…” he arched his neck slightly, allowing her better access. “you drive me batty...”

Giggling, Shelagh looked down at her husband. “Would you say that you’re once bitten, twice shy?”

“Not that shy,” he said, pulling her close.

\--

Angela turned in her bed and looked at May. “Of course Daddy’s not a vampire. He’s a doctor.”

May nodded. “Doctors aren’t scary.”

“No,” Angela agreed, kicking off her blankets. “Maybe Timmy’s watching telly again!”

Shaking her head, May said, “No, Daddy and Mummy are home. Everyone’s asleep.” She looked at the door. “What if Daddy’s not a vampire anymore because when he bit Mummy  _ she _ became the vampire?”

Angela looked worried. “She is very pale. And pretty. All vampires are pretty, like the lady in the movie.”

“Remember Mummy said lunch had a wee bit too much garlic…” May’s eyes widened. 

Throwing the covers over their heads, two little girls called out in unison, “Daddy!”

-end

  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I have wrung everything I can out of that smcganns ‘vampire’ photo... (you know the one) *g* Thanks to the gals—the usual suspects—for indulging me... 💕


End file.
